Grid Analysis is a useful technique to use for making a decision. It is most effective where you have a number
of good alternatives and many factors to take into account.

The first step is to list your options and then the factors that are important for making the decision. Lay
these out in a table, with options as the row labels, and factors as the column headings.

Next work out the relative importance of the factors in your decision. Show these as numbers. We will use
these to weight your preferences by the importance of the factor. These values may be obvious. If they are not, then use a
technique such as Paired Comparison Analysis to estimate them.

The
next step is to work your way across your table, scoring each option for each of the important factors in your decision. Score
each option from 0 (poor) to 3 (very good). Note that you do not have to have a different score for each option - if none
of them are good for a particular factor in your decision, then all options should score 0.

Now multiply each of your
scores by the values for your relative importance. This will give them the correct overall weight in your decision.

Finally
add up these weighted scores for your options. The option that scores the highest wins!

Example:

A windsurfing enthusiast is about to replace his car. He needs one that not only carries a board and sails,
but also that will be good for business travel. He has always loved open-topped sports cars. No car he can find is good for
all three things.

His options are:

A four wheel drive, hard topped vehicle

A comfortable 'family car'

An estate car

A sports car

Criteria that he wants to consider are:

Cost

Ability to carry a sail board at normal driving speed

Ability to store sails and equipment securely

Comfort over long distances

Fun!

Nice look and build quality to car

Firstly he draws up the table shown in Figure 1, and scores each option by how well it satisfies each factor: